Review: The Color of Snow by Brenda Stanley

Title: The Color of Snow
Author: Brenda Stanley
Rating:  ★★★★★
Genre: YA Fiction
Publisher:  Tribute Books
Publication Date: June 2012

Review:

All her life, Sofie has thought she was living under a curse. Her father kept her secluded from the world to protect others. When Sofie’s Papa is arrested for shooting the boy she loves and her only friend, she is taken away from him and forced to live with extended family she never knew and questions everything she was ever taught about herself and the world around her.

I think the author did a great job at capturing the feelings of Sophie and the hardships she had to face when she learns everything about her family’s past. I also felt that the scenery descriptions were lovely, there was something very serene about the way it all came together. I did like the fact that Brenda wrote this book in different points of views in different periods of time but at a few points in the story, it would jump to Sophie’s point of view in the present or future. It wasnt explained who’s POV it was or when it was written (which was different than the rest of the chapters which clearly stated that information) so I thought a bit of clarity on that end would have been nice. While the love between Sophie and Damien was very pure, I didn’t really FEEL their love, nor did I ever get a sense that she loved him other than the fact that he was her first and only friend. More descriptions of their time spent together while growing up would have brought this story together beautifuly.

I also enjoyed the fact that while there are religious aspects to this story, there were all different sides presented and the Author didn’t try to steer the reader to believe in any certain religion.

It’s hard to read about a girl who thinks she doesn’t deserve love or that she needs to hide from love because she will end up hurting others. It was great to see Sophie have such a wonderful support system of family and friends to help her realize that she deserves to be happy and that sometimes what we are taught in life isn’t always true, just like the color of snow isn’t always white.

All in all I did thing that The Color of Snow was a lovely book. To check it out for yourself, go to Brenda Stanley’s website.

Summary:

When a beautiful 16-year-old girl named Sophie is found sequestered in a cage-like room in a rundown house in the desolate hills of Arbon Valley, Idaho, the entire community is shocked to learn she is the legendary Callidora–a baby girl who was kidnapped from her crib almost seventeen years ago and canonized in missing posters with portraits of what the fabled girl might resemble. Authorities soon learn that the cage was there to protect people from Sophie, because her biological father believes she is cursed.

Sophie is discovered after the man she knows as Papa, shoots and injures Damien, a young man who is trying to rescue her. Now, unsocialized and thrust into the world, and into a family she has never met, Sophie must decide whether she should accept her Papa’s claims that she is cursed and he was only trying to protect others, or trust the new people in her life who have their own agendas. Guided by a wise cousin, Sophie realizes that her most heartbreaking challenge is to decide if her love for Damien will destroy him like her Papa claims, or free her from past demons that haunt her mind.